Press releases 2018

Dresden Fraunhofer engineers have developed a so-called "multi-organ chip". This microsystem from the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS Dresden, which has now received an "EARTO Innovation Award" in Brussels, simulates the blood circulation and the organs of animals or humans.

Thin organic layers provide machines and equipment with new functions. They enable, for example, tiny energy recuperators. In future, these will be installed on pipes or other surfaces in order to convert waste heat into electricity. The experts at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS Dresden use ink based on conductive polymers for this purpose.

Dresden Fraunhofer engineers are working on reducing the fuel consumption of cars by more than a tenth. They use ultra-short laser pulses to generate very fine and friction-reducing fishbone patterns in engines.

(Dresden, August 31, 2018) The Fraunhofer-Institut für Werkstoff- und Strahltechnik IWS Dresden will present solutions for Additive Manufacturing and laser welding at IMTS Chicago 2018. The German engineers will show a rocket engine with aerospike nozzle for space travel, the "smart head" COAXwire 4.0 for laser build-up welding and the modular laser welding optics concept remoweld®FLEX together with Arnold Ravensburg.

(Dresden, August 8, 2018) Filigree engravings on external surfaces of aircraft are intended to ensure that airflow remains smooth and drag on the aircraft low. For this, engineers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS, the Technische Universität Dresden and Airbus have developed a laser process that produces textured surfaces at high throughput making surface contamination more difficult.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS has succeeded in increasing the stability of those aircraft engine parts which are subject to stress due to temperature. The IWS process helps to reduce kerosene consumption as well as CO2 emissions. In combination with further measures, significant cost savings result during flight operations. The research project was developed in close cooperation with the engine specialist Rolls-Royce. The first engines with the new technology are already in use.

Engineers at the Fraunhofer-Institut für Werkstoff- und Strahltechnik IWS in Dresden have developed an innovative process in cooperation with industrial partners to weld and form modern lightweight parts for aircraft. They present this technology at the International Aerospace Exhibition ILA in Berlin from 25 to 29 April 2018.

The next generation‘s laser wire processing optics "COAXwire" is in the starting blocks. At the Hannover Messe and the ILA Berlin, the Fraunhofer-Institut für Werkstoff- und Strahltechnik IWS Dresden presents two versions of its coaxial wire optics. A completely newly developed miniaturized version enables high-precision processing of complex components with fine wire. In a macro version, the head can be equipped with a hot-wire module.

The Fraunhofer-Institut für Werkstoff- und Strahltechnik IWS Dresden has developed a new process for joining materials with different properties. Thermal direct joining presses laser-structured metal with thermoplastic components and heats them locally. This causes the thermoplastic to melt, to penetrate into the structures and to adhere to the surface. A specially developed joining gun generates robust connections within seconds. The "HeatPressCool-Integrative" (HPCI) process is highly suitable for replacing complex adhesive processes.

The Fraunhofer-Institut für Werkstoff- und Strahltechnik IWS has a new managing director. At the turn of the year, Prof. Christoph Leyens succeeded Prof. Eckhard Beyer as managing director, who had headed Fraunhofer IWS until October 2016 and subsequently, together with Mr Leyens, managed the Fraunhofer IWS in a double leadership. Mr Beyer continues being a member of the Institute's Executive Board.